Jana Kramer Reveals Her First Ex-Husband Was Abusive, Tried to Kill Her

Jana Kramer has revealed some shocking details about her first marriage: Her husband, Michael Gambino, abused her and, at one point, almost killed her.

Kramer tells Peoplethat she and Gambino -- who was 17 years older than the singer and whose real name, RadarOnline reports, was Michael Salais -- got married in 2004 after only two weeks of dating. They'd met at a coffee shop in Los Angeles, Calif., when she was 19 years old.

"He was a smooth-talker, very charming, intriguing and obviously older,” Kramer recalls.

However, after Kramer and Gambino wed, he became abusive toward her: "He'd come home at 3 o'clock in the morning and pick me up out of bed, throw me onto the ground and start yelling and hitting," Kramer recalls. “Then the next morning he’d be like, ‘Hey, baby,’ as if nothing had happened.”

Kramer admits that she'd sleep in her car or hide in the bushes until Gambino calmed down, and hid her bruises with makeup. She didn't reveal the abuse to her family or friends; “my self-confidence went down each time he was abusive," Kramer says.

"When I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ he sent me a photo of my dogs on the freeway and said, ‘I’m going to let them go if you don’t come home,’” Kramer remembers. “He’d kick me out of the house, I’d sleep in the car, and then that next morning I’d be with him in bed again.”

On Aug. 6, 2005, Gambino choked Kramer until she was unconscious and left her bleeding outside their home. Kramer remembers "praying that night, ‘Please, just take me away, I don’t want to be here anymore.’” People reports that she has small scars on her shoulder and arm from the incident. Gambino was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to six years in prison, but released in 2010. However, he committed suicide two years later.

“I’m so embarrassed and afraid no one will love me because of my past, but I’m ready to put it out there now,” Kramer confesses. "If I can help one person, I’ll be thankful for what happened -- and I can move forward.”